Losing Weight On Candida Diet

Hi there. It’s New Zealand naturopath, Eric Bakker. I’m author of a book called Candida Crusher and also the formulator of the Canxida range of dietary supplements. Thanks for checking out my video today. I’ve got a question here from a guy called George Everly in New Jersey in the USA. George is asking me a question in a quite a long email “How can I stop losing weight on the Candida diet? How can I gain weight?” George is quite a slim guy. He’s only about 110 pounds and he’s not really that tall. He’s about 5 foot 8-1/2 inches, so he’s a reasonably tall guy, but he doesn’t really weigh a lot.

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George, the interesting thing that you need to bear in mind when you’re on the Candida diet is you can eat carbohydrates and you can eat proteins. You can eat fats. You can eat a whole range of different foods. You don’t have to lose a whole lot of weight. If you’re losing weight, it tells me basically (a) you’re not eating enough foods, (b) you’re not eating the right kind of foods to maintain the weight, or (c) you’re exercising or doing too much. You’re basically burning up your calories and not putting enough calories in there.

Also bear in mind that people with yeast infections and digestive problems who are unwell generally can often have a slightly higher metabolic rate, so they can be hungrier, be burning up more food, and then be very scared and cautious about the kind of foods they do consume because they could aggravate their gut and cause a lot of problems. This is something I typically see with Candida. That people start reading all these diets on specific carbohydrate eliminations and gut psychology diets and bodycology diets, all these kind of diets they read and they start thinking that they’ve got to exclude all carbohydrates from their diet. They just have a pure Paleo approach, so they basically stick with meats and vegetables. That’s a pretty boring silly diet. To me, it’s not really a diet that’s sustainable. You can’t keep maintaining diets like that.

I noticed a long time ago in the 80s that when patients went on very strict kinds of Atkins induction dietary approaches that they felt really good for the first few days or a week and then they felt like crap after that. They felt sick. They got blocked up. They got constipated. They didn’t feel well at all. It’s no good to be too strict with any kind of dietary approach for too long. So let’s talk about the different kinds of carbohydrates you can include in your diet with Candida, and if you’re scared about consuming these kinds of carbohydrates.

The advice I’m going to give you now, George, is not going to specifically relate to your case because I haven’t seen you as a patient. I don’t know all the details around your case, so it’s just general information. When I see people on Skype or FaceTime on the computer from around the world, I listen very carefully what they’ve got to say and I can give highly specific advice for their needs. Remember, just bear it in mind. These carbs can really range from person to person quite wildly.

I’ve never found brown rice a problem on the Candida diet, particularly if people start with small amounts of brown rice. We’re talking very small amounts. It could be an ounce. It could be like a tablespoon if they’re quite suspicious about that food. And they can add it to things like steamed vegetables or casserole dishes or different kinds of meals that they’re eating and they shouldn’t have a problem.

Point number one. Write this down. If you’re going to start a new carbohydrate in your diet or you haven’t consumed it for some time, start with very small amounts. That’s because the bacteria in your gut, whether they’re commensals, bacteria in transition from good to bad, or whether they’re beneficials or lack of beneficials or whether they’re bad bacteria or whether they’re Candida in small, moderate or large amounts. We don’t know what you’ve got in your gut. We don’t know how these bugs are going to handle a huge influx of this new carbohydrate. Be very careful when you start a new carb not to go crazy with it and have like two or three portions a day. Test the water to see how you’re going to feel. Because this could be a mistake. This could really increase brain fog, gas, bloating, and all sorts of symptoms. Just be very careful.

Think about it this way. If you were to start a new job or you were to start a new exercise program or even start a new relationship or you’re going to start anything new, do you just go completely head on into it without any thought of what you’re doing? You probably don’t. You probably ease yourself into these kinds of things because it makes more sense to do that. And it’s the same with the diet approach. Ease yourself into the new carbohydrate.

Brown rice, quinoa. Quinoa is quite a good grain from South America. It’s probably around 18 percent protein. It’s a high protein. It’s a good carb. And I find it quite nice with different kinds of boned broths or chicken broths or vegetable broths or potassium broths. You can cook it with water. You can add it to all kinds of different dishes. Brown rice, quinoa. You can also add millet in there. Millet’s quite an alkaline, clean grain and I find it really good for breakfast, cooking up like a millet porridge. And again, that can be added to many different kinds of meat dishes, savory dishes. That’s usually okay. Small amounts of millet are fine. Buckwheat. Buckwheat flour is quite nice to have. Buckwheat noodles. There are noodles called Soba noodles. You can get them with mixed wheat or you can get 100 percent buckwheat noodles. I find Soba noodles quite nice to eat.

There is already about four or five approaches you can add to your diet. Don’t forget to include small amounts of beans into your diet. Again, be very careful not to include large amounts because you get a lot of gas and bloating from all that fiber. Small amounts of beans or legumes like chickpeas can be added to the diet. You can make hummus up with a bit of tahini, which is basically mashed up sesame seeds, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic and chickpeas. That makes up a dish called hummus, which is quite an attractive dip to have with raw vegetables. It’s got a lot of carb in that.

There are many different carbohydrates you can include in your diet. You’ve got to find the ones that agree with you. You need to start slowly, small quantities and gradually build up. If you get discomfort, you back off. It’s simple. And also alternate the carbs. Have them at different times of the day. Different times of the week. Don’t keep eating the same stuff over and again. Don’t be afraid of carbohydrates in your diet. If you’ve got severe intestinal Candida, you may for the first several weeks be very cautious, especially if you’ve got a lot of gut issues and brain fog.

You need to be cautious with pumpkin, squash, corn, and potatoes. These foods are very high in starches and sugars. Various stages of ripeness of these foods can also dictate whether they’ve got more starch or more sugar in them. And also ways that you prepare these foods, whether they’re baked or fried or made into soups. That can also change how they affect your body as well. Again, you need to experiment with that. If you’ve got a severe gut problem, back off these starchy vegetables for the first few weeks. I always find baked potato and baked pumpkin a little bit better than steamed or turned into soups. So just be very cautious.

I hope that gives you a good bit of advice there, George, on carbohydrates. Don’t be afraid to include those in the diet. They will ensure that you won’t lose a lot of weight, especially if you’re eating ample vegetables and a mixed selection of meats along with those carbohydrates. You should be fine. And also, George, check out my Candida quiz at yeastinfection.org. Thanks for buying my book, Candida Crusher. I just read your email. I appreciate you buying that book. You’ll read more about all the kind of starchy carbohydrates in that book. There is a whole section in there on weight loss as well. And also, George, don’t forget, I’ve created a range of products you can find at Canxida.com. They’re going to help you significantly with your yeast infection.

Thanks for tuning in.

Before you leave the page make sure to watch My TOP 5 Candida Fighting Foods. I share my 5 favorite foods that beat candida overgrowth. The video is on my youtube channel and you can click here to watch it. Let me know if you have any other questions.